Uranium Mines
Uranium mining is currently carried out in about 15 countries around the world, producing a cumulative total of 53663 tonne uranium (tU). The countries where more than 100 tU/year production reported are Kazakhstan (28%), Canada (20%), Australia (16%), Namibia (8%), Russian Federation (7%), Niger (6%), Uzbekistan (5%), United States (3%), Ukraine (2%), China (2%), India (1%), South Africa (1%), Czech Republic (1%), Brazil (1%) and Malawi (<1%). Since 2009 the in-situ leach (ISL) operations of Kazakhstan are producing the largest share of world uranium.
The largest conventional uranium mines are McArthur river (Canada), Ranger (Australia), Olympic Dam (Australia), Krasnokamensk (Russia) and Rossing (Namibia). The largest uranium producers are Cameco, Rio Tinto, Areva, KazAtomProm and ARMZ-TVEL. The mining methods employed are conventional underground (UG) and open cast (OC) (54%), in-situ leaching (ISL, 41%) and by-product (5%). Presently about 50 uranium mines / production centers are operational.
Read more about Uranium Mines: Working Uranium Mines, Planned Uranium Mines, Prospective Uranium Mines, Closed Uranium Mines
Famous quotes containing the word mines:
“The humblest observer who goes to the mines sees and says that gold-digging is of the character of a lottery; the gold thus obtained is not the same thing with the wages of honest toil. But, practically, he forgets what he has seen, for he has seen only the fact, not the principle, and goes into trade there, that is, buys a ticket in what commonly proves another lottery, where the fact is not so obvious.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)